The Ropers had to go in the third season.

[Dr. Thong]

Originally Posted by TheAnalyzer

Your Reasoning for why they had to go after season 3 is why they were not allowed to return once their spinoff failed. I'm sure the producers spinned off the Ropers characters because they felt it was time for a CHANGE, not because they felt they deserved their own show

The reason for the Ropers being spun off was greed and nothing else. The seventies was when the spinoff craze really began. When a show (insert your favorite top 10 show here) became a smash, the networks wanted to duplicate its success by spinning off supporting characters into their own shows so they could grab more market share and ratings.

Some spinoffs were successful, some weren't, and some never got past the pilot stage. I believe Norman Fell didn't even want to do the spinoff, but was either contractually obligated to do so or was forced into it by the producers.

And weren't the landlord characters from Man About The House spun off into their own series, George And Mildred?? I seem to remember such a credit being run during the end credits of The Ropers.

[Mikado]

Originally Posted by Dr. Thong

And weren't the landlord characters from Man About The House spun off into their own series, George And Mildred?? I seem to remember such a credit being run during the end credits of The Ropers.

They certainly WERE, and, as I remarked earlier on this thread, the scripts from the British show were used almost word-for-word on "The Ropers"

[Skywalker]

The one good thing about the Ropers leaving is it gave Jack, Janet and Chrissy more screen time. The Ropers had a lot of scenes together and most of the time they were by themselves in their apt and to me that took away from the main characters on the show. When Furley was on the show, he always had scenes with the main characters.